%0 Journal Article
%T Relationship between Patient-Dependent Parameters and Radiation Dose Rates Measured around Patients Undergoing PET/CT Imaging Using <sup>18</sup>F-FDG
%A Khaled Soliman
%A Saad Al Qahtani
%A Ahmed Alenezi
%J International Journal of Medical Physics,Clinical Engineering and Radiation Oncology
%P 403-413
%@ 2168-5444
%D 2018
%I Scientific Research Publishing
%R 10.4236/ijmpcero.2018.73033
%X Objectives: Patients
undergoing 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging are considered external radiation
sources. Accurate dose rate estimates are important for conducting realistic risk assessments and performing dose
reconstruction in cases of accidental exposures. The patient radiation self-attenuation factor is assumed to be a function of
the patient¡¯s body size metrics, but we
can use these metrics to predict the dose rate around the patients with
accuracy. The objective of this work was first
to measure the patient attenuation factor by performing direct dose rate
measurements from patients undergoing PET/CT imaging studies using 18F-FDG.
The second objective was to study the possible correlation between the measured
dose rate constant per unit activity from the patients and their body size metrics;
five metrics were tested in this work. The last objective was to measure the
patients¡¯ voiding factor. Methods: We have measured dose rates at one
meter from 57 patients and noted the patient¡¯s
height (H), weight (W) and calculated patient size metrics namely: Equivalent Cylindrical
Diameter (ECD), Equivalent Spherical Diameter (ESD) and the Body Mass Index
(BMI). Results: The measured average dose rate was 92.2 ¡À 14 ¦ÌSv·h